


Now or Never

by crimsinsky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-13 00:44:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11748579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsinsky/pseuds/crimsinsky
Summary: A secret relationship, do they confess or go their separate ways?*F word used twice, if too offensive for delicate eyes please avoid.





	Now or Never

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. Please don't sue me I have no money.

 

“Now or never,” she said. This would change everything for good or for bad.

She was tired of bad. 

He was tired of the lies.

They were both so tired of hiding.

 

 

 

They’d never intended for it to happen.

It started in an unlikely way.

“You can’t seriously be thinking of making us work together. Have you gone mad?” Hermione braced herself against the desk, yelling uselessly at Harry.

He sat before her helplessly. “As much as I get your… reservations, it’s not my choice so you do have to work with him.”

“My reservations,” She scoffed, “Harry it’s Malfoy. DRAY-CO MAL-FOY, even if he hadn’t picked on me for years we are going to kill each other cooped up in that office.”

“I don’t think you will but make sure to clean it up,” he went back to filling out paperwork, “call me if you need assistance with the body.”

Hermione huffed in irritation trying in vain to calm her temper. “You are _not_ funny, Harry Potter.”

He looked up wounded, “I am exceedingly funny.”

 

 

Draco walked into her office, no _their_ office she reminded herself. He still held himself with a suave grace that bristled her.

Neither spoke to the other for hours, merely stealing quick glances and getting nothing done.

“We can’t do this,” Draco said breaking the rigid silence. “How about a truce?”

“Pardon?”

“I know you don’t want me here, I didn’t particularly want to be assigned to this department but we may as well make the best of it.”

“And how do we go about that?” Hermione asked tersely.

“I’m not the shitty kid I was, and I know I made your life hell and I’m sorry for that. I’ll leave you alone and do my work and be civil, we can both be adults here.”

Thinking it over, Draco seemed genuine enough. “Fair enough,” Hermione said before turning back to her work. With the tension broken both were finally able to get some work done.

 

 

Tending to avoid each other as much as possible they were civil until one case took every waking minute to process. They’d come in early, stay late, work through lunch, all of this done together. Had there been enough room to transfigure their desks into beds in the tiny office, they would have slept there too.

One evening they spent in Hermione’s flat pacing around the room eating Chinese takeout going over every detail until the pieces fell into place.

They’d found a way to win.

It was closing in on four in the morning when they’d made their breakthrough and Hermione graciously offered Draco her guest room for the night.

To reciprocate he made them breakfast. Hermione teased him “Who knew Draco Malfoy capable of cooking?”

After that they became friends, often the sounds of their debating and arguing over a case filled the halls near their office.

Both spent long hours at the ministry avoiding going home to empty flats.

They accidentally began dating.

With a few “You’ve been working on that briefing for hours how about some lunch,” and a couple of “Let’s grab dinner” they found they enjoyed each other. Needling and arguing included.  

They kept their relationship a secret, they didn’t intend to hide but both Hermione and Draco suffered from a ridiculous amount of press and enjoyed something being just theirs.

That’s how they’d kept it for over a year, and they were tired of hiding.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Hermione said finally. She let the invitation fall to her desk. It was a Ministry hosted Hogwarts reunion of sorts for charity, everyone, they knew would be going.

“Me neither.” Draco swallowed hard, “Do you want to end it?”

Hermione’s head shot up her eyes terrified “Do you?”

“Never.” He took her hands in his and sat next to her, “I want to dance with you at the gala and tell any man who looks at you to fuck off because you’re taken.”

Hermione kept her face neutral. “ _If_ I allow that, you don’t get to have drinks with Daphne Greengrass in nice restaurants anymore.”

Draco smirked; she was just as jealous and possessive as he was. “She is an old friend who wanted a recommendation on a lawyer to draw up her prenup.”

“Oh.”

“Oh,” he mocked her and kissed her knuckles. “If I agree to your terms will you concede to my offer?”

“No more drinks with any other women?” She leaned into him.

“You’re the only one I want.” Draco lifted her chin and kissed her.

 

 

“Now or never,” Hermione said.  

She took Draco’s hand and they walked in together.

After a moment, as the others took note of them, an uncomfortable silence fell over the room.

Hermione simply said “Hello everyone,” she hoped her smile would lessen the mood. They were mostly friends after all.

Ginny rose from her seat furiously and stormed over to the couple. “What the actual fuck Hermione?!” She yelled when she got close enough to them.

“Now Ginny,” She tried to soothe her friend who was blatantly pissed.

“You couldn’t have waited one bloody week could you?!”

She stormed away pausing at a table where Blaise Zabini was sitting and slammed some coins on the table.

It took a few seconds for the last minute to process through their minds.

“You were betting on this?” Draco said incredulously to his friend who was smiling with a far superior attitude.

“Can’t blame me mate, we’ve been waiting on this for what was it a year and a half?”

“No that was whether they’d kill each other, we switched to when they’d come out with it six months in,” Harry said from several tables over.

“Harry!” Hermione scolded.

He got up to find and calm his wife down, “Not our fault you two are so thick, for intelligent people it took you long enough.”

“So you all knew this whole time?” Hermione crossed her arms over her chest angrily.

“Not the whole time but pretty much,” Neville added.

“You work near and are good friends with several Aurors, a few investigators, and Luna, who seems to know everything.” Blaze said as he gave part of his winnings to Luna. “You really think you’d keep it a secret.”

“Et tu Luna?” Hermione asked.

“Oh no, I didn’t bet. I just knew you would pick tonight to come out with it.”

Blaze came to her defense. “It only seems fair that she should have some of the winnings as she did suggest this date as a sound bet.”

After the spectacle of them wore off Draco kept his promise of dancing with her.

Hermione practically glowed being paraded around the dance floor by the man she loved. “So it seems we are the main event of the party?”

“Almost seems anticlimactic,” Draco said almost pouting.

She laughed, “Shut up and kiss me Malfoy.”

He did.

Their friends whistled and cheered in the background.


End file.
